Gallery definition
Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 2, Buildings other than dwellinghouses (2019 edition), defines a ‘gallery’ as: 'A floor or balcony that does not extend across the full extent of a building’s footprint and is open to the floor below.'
The previous edition of Approved document B defined a gallery as: ‘A raised area or platform around the sides or at the back of a room which provides extra space.’
The Scottish Building Standards, Part I. Technical Handbook – Domestic, Appendix A Defined Terms, suggests that gallery means:
‘…a raised floor or platform, including a raised storage floor, which is open to the room or space into which it projects and which:
- has every part of its upper surface not less than 1.8 metres above the surface of the main floor of the said room or space and
- occupies (or, in the case of there being more than one gallery, together occupy), not more than one-half of the floor area of the said room or space.
The word gallery can also refer to a room or building for the display or sale of works of art, such as the National Gallery.
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